Long Live
by TimeLady-12
Summary: Kili/OC: Amelia is a thief. Not by choice, but having no home makes you resort to drastic measures. But when a mysterious wizard comes along and invites her on an adventure, will she get more than she bargained for?
1. Chapter 1- A Meeting

Chapter One- A Meeting

A/N: so I'm planning on making the first part of this along side the script of the film, and if the other film hasn't come out by the time I've caught up, I'll go along side the book. So, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit in any way, shape or form. The books belong to J.R.R. Tolkien, and the films belong to Peter Jackson.

-8-

Amelia made her way through the crowds in the street, ducking behind shops and other people to avoid being seen. This was something that you would see on a day to day basis when it came to Amelia's life. She tucked the apple that she'd stolen from a stall in the small pouch that hung across her body, and slid down the wall that she was leaning on. That had been close. Too close. She was used to this life. Always running, stealing from other people. She didn't like it, in fact, she hated the fact that she had to steal from other people's livelihoods just to survive, but that's what made her do it- the urge to survive. To do whatever you could to put food in your belly and at least survive the night. She'd been doing it for 31 years, ever since she was 20 years old and her mother had died.

Amelia wasn't like any other people she'd ever met. Her mother was human, and in Amelia's opinion, the perfect person. She was beautiful and always putting Amelia first. Her father on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He was a Dwarf- a highly respected one in his community according to her mother. She'd never met him; he'd left to fight a battle far away and hadn't returned, presumed dead. As far as she knew, she took after him in looks. Her mother had had dark brown hair- so dark it almost looked black- that was always pin straight and dark green eyes. Her father on the other hand had blonde hair and grey eyes- a trait that she'd mostly inherited. Amelia had long blonde hair that was untamable due to its wild curls, and vivid blues eyes with hints of grey that streaked through them. She wore a pair of brown fitted trousers with a white shirt that was rolled up to her elbows. Her boots came up half way her calf and she wore a dark green cloak that had hidden pockets.

She spent her days moving from town to town, stealing just enough to get by. Her mother had died when she was 20 by some unknown disease, and Amelia was left homeless. Her mother had been the only thing protecting her from the others' hateful words. She'd been outcasted due to her heritage, hated because of what she was. So she moved. She'd be lying if she said that the words didn't hurt, and she knew that it was only a small number of people that were saying those things, but she couldn't bring herself to trust anyone, scared that they'd judge her.

Looking up, she saw the vendor from the stall she'd robbed searching the crowd. It was obvious to know what he was looking for, or rather _who_ he was looking for. She'd seen the faces of many people she'd stolen from, ranging from anger to sadness, even to confusion when things just disappeared, and she clearly saw the anger on this mans face. One would think that it was a lot for just one measly apple, but it wasn't the first time she'd stole from him, and she was pretty sure that it wasn't the first time he'd seen her slip away either.

"_You!"_ he growled, growling in Amelia's direction. Cursing herself for not leaving when she saw him, Amelia leapt to her feet, rushing down a small alley that was nearby. Here was where she left her bag. It was nothing special, just a brown off the shoulder bag that she kept her things in, such as her twin swords that she'd had made for her, and her various other possessions. Along with this was a curved bow that hung across her back, the arrows also kept in her bag.

Quickly grabbing her possessions, she slung them across her back and fled down the alley into the street. Taking a quick look behind her, she saw that no one was following her, although some were giving her an odd look, wondering why she was blinding running down the street. Paying them no notice, she quickly made it to the edge of town and into the forest that surrounded it. Noticing that she was quite far away from the town by now, Amelia sighed and leant against a tree.

"Quite a show you made back there." Came a voice that startled Amelia. Looking up, she saw a rather odd looking man dressed in grey robes, a pointed hat that matched his outfit, and a long staff. He had a long grey beard, and had, in Amelia's opinion, a rather amused look glittering in his eyes. "People are wondering why a woman such as yourself was running through the streets."

"Well, er…" stuttered Amelia. "People in that town are very odd about…new people." She said, although she was pretty sure it came out more like a question.

"Yes, I'm sure. Although I think it's more to the fact that you've been stealing from a certain vendor for the past week." Amelia's mouth dropped open. How did he know that?

"Have you been watching me?" she asked, suspicion in her voice.

"It would be lying to say that I haven't been watching you. I seem to have forgotten my manners, I am Gandalf the Grey." Introduced the wizard.

"Amelia." She replied. "Just Amelia."

"Well Amelia, I have a proposition for you." He watched the girl raise an eyebrow. He hadn't been lying when he implied he'd been watching her. It seemed that she was quite the thief, although he could tell she didn't enjoy it, and he thought that she would be quite the addition to the journey he would go on. She would be one of the things that the company would need. She obviously had experience with weaponry if the bow on her back was anything to go by, and he was sure she would boost the company's moral if the need came along, and he was sure it would. Although he was wondering what she was. She wasn't like any race he'd encountered. He would say that she was from the race of man if she wasn't so short. "I wish to embark on a journey, something that I think would be of interest to you."

Amelia thought about it. What he'd said was very vague. In fact, he'd barely said anything other than he was going on a journey. But what was she doing with her life. Just going from town to town hoping for the best? Where would that get her? At least going on this journey would give her something to do. An aim to get to or something.

"Okay. I'll go." She said. "But what does the journey entail?"

"All in good time. Now, to begin I believe that we must make our way to Hobbiton." He said, beginning to walk away.

"Wait!" called Amelia, gathering her things again and running to catch up with the wizard. "So, you just expect me to follow a complete stranger to go on a journey that you won't tell me anything about?"

"Indeed." Agreed the wizard, giving the girl a small, amused smile.

"Right, okay…how far away is Hobbiton from here?"

"I'd say about a day if we make good progress." No other words were exchanged that day.

-8-

It was the middle of the morning when Gandalf and Amelia made it into Hobbiton. She'd never been to this part of Middle Earth before, and even she had to admit, it was very peaceful. She was sure that she would quickly get bored here. They'd slept the night before under a small canopy of trees, and Gandalf had woken her early in the morning, eager to get to the town at a precise time.

"So, who exactly are we going to see?" she asked, trying to get some information from the wizard. She knew it was probably a long shot, but it was worth a try, right?

"A hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins."

"So, is he coming with us, then?"

"I wish for him to come with us. If he will is another matter, although if he is the Hobbit I remember, I would say so, yes."

Amelia huffed. He was quite blunt and to the point, never giving away more than he could, so she just settled to scuffing the ground with her feet. They seemed to be climbing a small hill, and looking up, she saw a door built into the hill to which she presumed was the entrance to the Hobbit's house that was sitting on the bench in front of her.

"Good morning." Said the Hobbit who Amelia presumed was Bilbo Baggins. He looked pretty shocked at the presence of the two of them, something that she found quite amusing.

"What do you mean? Do you mean to wish me a good morning, or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not? Or, perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning. Or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on?" Amelia chuckled at the wizard's response. A notion that did not go unnoticed by the Hobbit, although he chose not to say anything.

"All of them at once, I suppose." He replied, with a bewildered expression. "Can I help you?"

"That remains to be seen. I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure."

"An adventure? Now, I don't imagine anyone west of Bree would have much interest in adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner, hmm." Amelia raised an eyebrow at his reasons. 'Late for dinner?' What kind of a reason was that, really? Bilbo stood up, walking to his mailbox. Amelia watched him. She'd never seen a Hobbit, so although he seemed a bit rude, he was quite fascinating to her. His feet she found rather strange, and he was a few inches shorter than her. Bilbo opened his mailbox, retrieving the mail that was in there, seemingly muttering to himself, something that Amelia found quite odd. Was it a Hobbit thing?

"Good morning." Bilbo repeated, heading towards the door.

"To think that I should have lived to be good morninged by Belladonna Took's son, as if I were selling buttons at the door!" Huffed Gandalf.

"Beg your pardon?"

"You've changed, and not entirely for the better, Bilbo Baggins."

"I'm sorry, do I know you? Either of you?"

"Well, you know my name, although you don't remember I belong to it. I'm Gandalf! And Gandalf means…me. As for this young lady, I do not think you are familiar. This is Amelia."

"Gandalf…not Gandalf the wandering Wizard, who made such excellent fireworks! Old Took used to have them on Midsummer's Eve. Ha, ha! Well. Hmm, I had no idea you were still in business."

"And were should I be?" asked Gandalf, looking a little insulted that Bilbo only remembered him for the fireworks, and even that needed prompting.

"Ha, ha! Hmm…"

"Well, I'm pleased to find you remember something about me, even if it's only my fireworks. Well, that's decided. It will be very good for you, and most amusing for me. I shall inform the others." At this, both Amelia and Bilbo's heads shot up to look at the wizard. _What others_, thought Amelia. He hadn't mentioned any others. Mind you, he hadn't mentioned anything else either.

"Inform the who? What? No. No. No! Wait. We do not want any adventures here, thank you. Not today, not… I suggest try over the Hill or across the Water. Besides, it already looks like you've got someone to go with you." Gestured Bilbo to Amelia, who gave him a small smile. "Good morning." Bilbo walked quickly (he had thought about running, although that seemed quite rude) back into his house, almost slamming the door behind him. He bolted it, and leant against it, thinking that that had been a close one.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Gandalf was giving the door a very unattractive glare. It seemed that that had not gone the way he wanted it to.

"If only they all agreed as easily as me!" she joked, but it seemed her humour went on deaf ears as he walked forward to scratch something on the Hobbit's door. Something Amelia was sure he wouldn't like if he found out about it. "What are you doing?" she asked, as he peered through the window, chuckling when he saw Bilbo leap away in shock.

"Well, my dear girl. I suppose we shall have to entertain ourselves until this evening. Why don't you go and look around? I'm sure you'll find Hobbiton very nice. But be back here this evening." Amelia nodded before walking back down the path she had come.

After walking around for a couple of hours, Amelia came to find that most of Hobbiton was all the same. Hobbit holes, trees, more Hobbit holes. She wouldn't mind this constant pattern in the hills, it truly was quite pretty, but it wasn't like the people here helped. All she saw them to was walk around and ten to their gardens. And when they weren't doing that, they were staring at her. She was quite used to the stares by now, but it didn't mean that she liked it, so when the evening came, she was pleased to know that it was time to venture back to the Hobbit hole of Bilbo Baggins. The only problem was that she had had her head down when she was walking there, and she hadn't paid much attention walking back. Glancing around, she walked in a circle about three times before she saw the path she was sure led to his house. Smiling when she saw what she assumed was a rune on the door, she raised her hand and knocked on the door. She heard the commotion inside (she assumed the rest of the company were already in there) quieten, and the door opened to reveal Gandalf, giving her a big grin.

"Ah, Amelia, I thought you were never going to get here!" She gave an uneasy smile as she took in the people that were already in there. It seemed the 'company' that Gandalf had mentioned had consisted of Dwarves, and a lot of them by the looks of it.

"Got a bit lost." She mumbled. "Any food going?" she asked a bit louder.

"I like this girl already." She heard a nearby dwarf say.

"Now, what is going on…oh, not you again!" moaned Bilbo, moving to the front of the dwarves who seemed to have gathered in front of Amelia.

"Nice to see you too!" greeted Amelia, blatantly ignoring his attitude. "I'm Amelia." She introduced herself. Looking around, she now saw that it was quite a nice home, fancy was another word she thought of. Seeing the dwarves acting as if they owned the place, she shrugged, dumping her bag and her bow onto the floor near a chest.

"Come Amelia. Let me introduce you to the company." Said Gandalf. "This is Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Nori, Dori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, and lastly, Fili and Kili." Gandalf said, pointing at each dwarf in question. She smiled politely at each dwarf in question, wincing when she heard her stomach rumble. "It seems Amelia is hungry. Bofur, why don't you show her to the kitchen?" suggested Gandalf.

"Sure!" replied the dwarf, leading Amelia towards the kitchen, followed by the rest of the company after the excitement had worn off. "You can sit here." The girl smiled before looking at the table, taking a plate at random and piling food on it from wherever she could find it. She guessed that it would disappear rather quickly as soon as the dwarves returned to the table.

"Excuse me. A tad excessive, isn't it?" she heard Bilbo say. "Have you got a cheese knife?"

"Cheese knife?" scoffed Bofur, who was now seated opposite her. "He eats it by the block." He laughed, seeing Bombur walk out of the pantry with three wheels of cheese.

"He's not really going to eat all of that, is he?" asked Amelia. Granted, she never really had much to eat, her diet was rather appalling, but three _whole _wheels of cheese?

"Aye lass. Knowing him."

"No, no, that's Grandpa Mungo's chair! No, I'm sorry, you'll have to take it back please. Take it back…it's antique, not for sitting on! Thank you! That's a book, not a coaster. Put that map down, thank you."

"I can't hear what you're saying!" shouted Oin, who Amelia wasn't sure whether he was joking or not. She assumed he wasn't when he pulled out a horn device and held it up to his ear.

Amelia licked her lips when she finished her food. In her opinion, she had eaten rather a lot although she was sure that the dwarves would think her portions measly. Looking around, she saw that most of the dwarves now were seated around the table, and she noticed that Kili was now sat on her right next to his brother, and Ori on her left.

"So, Miss Amelia, where are you from?" She turned to her left to see that it was Ori that had spoken. Now most of the dwarves were paying attention, eager to know more about the girl they were traveling with.

"Oh, well, er…here and there, I suppose."

"What does that mean? How can you not come from anywhere?" asked Bofur. Amelia assumed that he could be rather blunt when he wanted to be.

"Well, I…sort of travel, so…"

"Leave the lass alone." Said Balin, who was near the front of the table. "She'll talk if she wants to." Amelia gave him a thankful smile before taking a sip from the water she'd acquired. She didn't really want to get into her life. She could tell them she traveled, she stole (she didn't think they'd judge her _too_ much from that), but she really didn't want to go into her heritage, which she could tell the conversation was headed towards. She was half-dwarf. How would these dwarves think of her if they knew? She didn't even look like one. The only thing she'd really inherited from her dwarf side was her height and hair colour. She had a lot of hair, and the fact that it was curly didn't help (so she always kept it in a side braid to keep it out of the way). Other than those things, she basically looked like a very small human.

"Yes, you're quite right, Bifur." She heard Gandalf say in the doorway. "We appear to be one dwarf short."

"He is late, is all." Replied Dwalin. "He traveled north to a meeting of our kin. He will come."

"Bombur, catch!" shouted Bofur, who threw some food towards his brother, catching it in his mouth making everybody cheer. Amelia saw Bilbo walk away in disgust out of the corner of her eye.

"Who wants an ale?" shouted Fili, coming into the room with several cups of the drink.

"Let him have another drink!" yelled Dwalin.

"Here you go." Replied Fili, giving one to Dwalin who poured the ale into Oin's hearing trumpet, making Oin splutter in anger. Amelia watched as he put the hearing trumpet to his mouth, blowing the ale out of it, making it squeal.

"On the count of three!" a dwarf yelled out. "One…two…" Amelia watched as simultaneously they all lifted their cups and drank their ale together. To say they were messy would be incredibly accurate. Half of the drink seemed to miss their mouths and ran down their beards, dripping onto the table. At this point, she was glad that she stuck to water. Amelia slunk down in her seat as they slammed their tankards on the table, and began a burping contest, something that she found disgusting if she was being honest. She gave a little chuckle as Ori, who seemed to be the youngest out of them, let out the loudest burp, making her lean the other way, which incidentally was towards Kili.

"Hello there." He said, looking down to see her leaning towards him.

"Oh!" startled Amelia, seeing what she was doing. "Sorry."

"It's no problem. Kili, at your service." He replied, taking a hold of her hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles. He felt funny when she was around. He hadn't even spoke to her, and yet he wasn't sure on what to say.

"Amelia, at yours." He smiled when she gave a shy grin. She was unlike anyone he'd met. He'd say she was human if she wasn't so short, but he'd say she was dwarven or from the hobbit race, but she didn't even have a beard or big feet to fit either of those. But despite all of that, he wanted to get to know her.

"So you'll be journeying with us, then Miss Amelia?" asked Fili, who was leaning over Kili to join in the conversation.

"Yeah, although I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Gandalf hasn't told me anything. It was quite a surprise to come in here and find a bunch of dwarves." She joked.

"Have you never seen a dwarf before, miss?"

"No. I've only really been around the race of men. And please don't call me Miss. Amelia is fine."

"That sounds sad." Said Ori, who had been listening in. "Why's that. You said you traveled?"

"Yeah, but that was mostly around the towns of men, so…"

"Oh." The four of them drifted off into an uncomfortable silence as Amelia took another sip of her drink.

"Excuse me, that is a doily, not a dishcloth!" exclaimed Bilbo.

"But it's full of holes." Argued Bofur.

"It's supposed to look like that, it's crochet."

"Oh, and a wonderful game it is too, if you got the balls for it."

"Bebother and confusticate these dwarves!"

"My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?" asked Gandalf, who had heard the mutterings of the hobbit.

"What's the matter? I'm surrounded by dwarves. What are they doing here?"

"Oh, they're quite a merry gathering, once you get used to them." Reasoned Gandalf, watching Nori play tug of war with Bofur using a chain of sausages.

"I don't want to get used to them. The state of my kitchen! There's mud trod into the carpet, they've pi-pillaged the pantry. I'm not even going to tell you what they've done in the bathroom; they've all but destroyed the plumbing. I don't understand what they're doing in my house!"

"Excuse me." Interrupted Ori, who had got up from the table after the four of them had fallen silent, feeling bad that he may have upset Amelia. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?"

"Here you go, Ori, give it to me." Said Fili, who had also got up with this brother. Amelia stood up to stand in the doorway to see Fili take the plate from Ori and throw it to Kili, who winked at Amelia before throwing it behind his back to Bifur who caught it without even looking. The dwarves continued to do this with all of the pots and Amelia had to duck several times to avoid being hit.

"Excuse me, that's my mother's West Farthing crockery, it's over a hundred years old!" yelled Bilbo over the noise, noticing the dwarves beginning to drum a rhythm with the utensils and their fists. "And can- can you not do that? You'll blunt them!"

"Ooh, d'hear that, lads?" laughed Bofur. "He says we'll blunt the knifes!" Amelia's face broke out into a grin when they started singing.

'_Blunt the knifes. Bend the forks,_

_Smash the bottles and burn the corks._

_Chip the glasses and crack the plates,_

_That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

_Cut the cloth and tread on the fat,_

_Leave the bones on the bedroom mat._

_Pour the milk on the pantry floor,_

_Splash the wine on every door._

_Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl,_

_Pound them up with a thumping pole._

_When you've finished, if any are whole,_

_Send them down the hay to roll._

_That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!'_

About half way through the song, Amelia had started clapping and laughing to them singing. Kili, who was throwing plates in the hallway in front of her, shot her a grin as he saw her laughing, making her look away as she started blushing for some reason.

Bilbo huffed in anger, storming his way to the kitchen only to find all of the dishes stacked neatly and cleanly, making the rest of the company laugh. Amelia was just about to walk towards them, when three loud knocks stopped her in her tracks. She assumed whoever it was, was either very important, or the leader of the company, or, thinking about it, probably both.

"He is here." Stated Gandalf, walking towards the door and opening it.

"Gandalf." Said the dwarf now entering Bag End. "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice. Wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

"Mark?" asked Bilbo. "There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago!"

"There is a mark; I put it there myself." Assured Gandalf. "Bilbo Baggins, Amelia, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

"So, this is the hobbit. Tell me, Mr. Baggins, have you don't much fighting?"

"Pardon me?"

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?"

"Well, I have some skill at conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see why that's relevant."

"Thought as much. He looks more like a grocer than a burglar. Now, what about the girl?"

"Ah, yes." Said Gandalf. "This is Amelia. I thought she would be a useful addition to our company."

"Weapon of choice?" repeated Thorin, now looking at the girl, who squirmed under his gaze.

"Well, erm… I normally use my bow, but if it comes to it I'm quite good with double swords and knifes." She said.

"Well that's good news." He said, giving her what she assumed was the beginning of a smile, before he walked into the dining room, sitting at the head of a table where he was presented with a plate of food.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin?" asked Balin. "Did they all come?"

"Aye. Envoys from all seven kingdoms."

"What do the dwarves of the Iron Hills say?" asked Dwalin.

"They will not come." Replied Thorin, much to the disappointment of the dwarves. "They say this quest is ours, and ours alone."

"You're going on a quest?" asked Bilbo.

"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Said Gandalf, motioning to the hobbit to grab a nearby candle as he laid out a map on the table. "Far to the east, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

"The lonely mountain." Said Amelia at the same time as Bilbo, who were both looking at the map.

"Aye." Said Gloin. "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time."

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: when the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." Upon hearing this, both Amelia and Bilbo had different reactions. It seemed Bilbo was more concerned about the mention of a beast, but Amelia was more focusing on the 'Erebor' part. A dwarf kingdom if she remembered correctly. So, technically, even though she was only half dwarf, she was entitled to go on this quest anyway. She had dwarven blood in her. This had a meaning to her to.

"Uh, what beast?" asked Bilbo, knocking her out of her train of thought.

"Well." Said Bofur. "That would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airbourne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks, extremely fond of precious metal…"

"Yes, I know what a dragon is."

"I'm not afraid!" shouting Ori, trying to impress Amelia. "I'm up for it! I'll give him a taste of the Dwarfish iron right up his jacksie." He was quickly pulled back in his seat by his brother.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." Said Balin, most to the annoyance of the other dwarves, who started shouting things such as "Hey, who are you calling dim?" and "Watch it!".

"What did he say?" asked Oin.

"We may be few in number, but we're fighters, all of us, to the last dwarf!" shouted Fili.

"And you forget." Added Kili, who caught Amelia's eye and grinned. "We have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

"Oh, well, now, uh, I-I-I wouldn't say that, I…" stuttered the wizard.

"How many then?" asked Dori.

"Uh, what?"

"Well, how many dragons have you killed? Go on, give us a number!"

"Hmm…" Amelia watched in amusement as Gandalf started coughing on his pipe as the dwarves jumped to their feet arguing about how many dragons he'd killed.

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused?" asked Amelia, who was now kneeling beside Kili's chair.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied, a smirk on his face that made Amelia look away. She had no idea why she always ended up doing that when he was near. She barely knew him, for goodness sake!

"Shazara!" (Silence) yelled Thorin, in which Amelia assumed was Khuzdûl, the dwarven language that her mother had told her about, but never learnt. Her father knew it, but it was so secret he didn't even teach her mother, so she had no way to learn it. "If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes looks east to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor? Du Bekâr! Du Bekâr!" (To arms! To arms!) Amelia smiled as all the dwarfs cheered. Maybe this would be the thing that she needed in her life?

-8-

A/N: so I was going to carry on with this chapter, but it was getting a bit long, so I've decided to split it. Not much of Amelia in this chapter, but it was more of character development in the beginning. Also, the picture is more for how I imagine my character to look like, just with longer and slightly more curly hair. I just wanted to add Kili in there. ;)

Let me know what you think! Favourite. Review.:)


	2. Chapter 2- A Journey

Chapter Two- A Journey

"You forget." Said Balin, making all the dwarves go silent. "The front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain."

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Countered Gandalf, pulling a key out of his robes.

"How came you by this?" asked Thorin, looking at the key with amazement, as if he wasn't truly seeing it.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safekeeping. It is yours now."

"If there is a key, there must be a door." Stated Fili.

"Well done Fili." Teased Amelia, who was also knelt by his chair as well as Kili's. She was quickly silenced by a glare from Gandalf, although Kili seemed to find it funny, as he started chuckling.

"These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls." Continued Gandalf, as though he hadn't been interrupted.

"There's another way in!" exclaimed Kili, before he could stop himself, glancing towards Amelia who was rolling her eyes at his obvious statement.

"Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed. The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth, and no small amount of courage. But, if we are careful and clever, I believe it can be done."

"That's why we need a burglar." Said Ori.

"Hmm, a good one, too. An expert, I'd imagine." Said Bilbo, not noticing where the conversation was heading.

"And are you?" asked Gloin.

"Am I what?"

"He said he's an expert!" exclaimed Oin, mishearing. "Hey hey!"

"M-me? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not a burglar. I've never stolen a thing in my life."

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Mr. Baggins." Said Balin. "He's hardly burglar material."

"Aye." Agreed Dwalin. "The wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Bilbo nodded in agreement as the Dwarves began arguing again, much to the annoyance of Amelia, who stood up next to Gandalf. Gandalf on the other hand took a different approach, and drew himself to full height casting darkness over the room.

"Enough!" he shouted. "If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, than a burglar he is." The room returned to normal, as did Gandalf. "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Bilbo Baggins. There's a lot more to him than appearances suggest, and he's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this."

"Very well. We will do it your way, but what about the girl?"

"I think she will provide more to this company than you know. In fact, I caught her running away from a vendor after she'd stolen a bit of his goods, did I not, Amelia?" Amelia looked down. "Yes, well, maybe she can teach Mr. Baggins a thing or two."

"Very well, then."

"No, no, no." argued Bilbo.

"Give them the contracts."

"Please!"

"It's just the usual summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth. You're lucky we had a spare, Miss. Amelia, we just have to fill in the details…here you go."

"Funeral arrangements?" squeaked Bilbo.

"I cannot guarantee their safety." Muttered Thorin to Gandalf.

"Understood."

"Nor will I be responsible for their fate."

"Agreed."

"Terms: cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth…"

"Fifteenth." Corrected Amelia, who had snuck up on the Hobbit with her freshly signed contract. "It should say fifteenth, here you go, Balin."

"Thank you, lass."

"…Fifteenth." Corrected Bilbo. "Of total profit, if any. Seems fair. Eh, present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof including but not limited to lacerations…evisceration…incineration?"

"Oh, aye." Said Bofur. "He'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye." Amelia and Bilbo paled at that.

"Huh."

"You all right, laddie?" asked Balin.

"Uh, yeah…feel a bit faint…"

"Think furnace with wings." Supplied Bofur with a grin, making Amelia chuckle.

"Air, I-I-I need air."

"Flash of light, searing pain, then poof! You're nothing more than a pile of ash."

"Hmmm…" said Bilbo, trying to regain his composure. "Nope." Amelia leapt back as he fell to the floor in a faint.

"I'm sure that was very helpful, Bofur." Said Amelia, suppressing a smile.

-8-

"I'll be all right." Said Bilbo, now sitting in an arm chair with a mug. "Let me sit quietly for a moment."

"You've been sitting quietly for far too long! Tell me; when did dollies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young hobbit who was always running off in a search of elves and the woods, who's stay out late, come home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies. A young hobbit who would have liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire. The world is not in your books and maps; it's out there."

"I can't just go running off into the blue. I am a Baggins, of Bag End."

"You are also a Took. Did you know that your great-great-great-great-uncle, Bullroarer Took, was so large he could ride a real horse?"

"Yes."

"Well, he could. In the Battle of Green Fields, he charged the goblin ranks. He swung his club so hard it knocked the Goblin King's head clean off, and it sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole. And thus the battle was won, and the game of golf invented at the same time."

"I do believe you made that up."

"Well, all good stories deserve embellishment. You'll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back."

"Can you promise that I will come back?"

"No. And if you do, you will not be the same."

"That's what I thought. Sorry Gandalf. I can't sign this. You've got the wrong hobbit. Besides, it seems to me you've already got a burglar. That Amelia." Sighed Bilbo, walking away.

"It appears we have lost our burglar." Said Balin. "Probably for the best. The odds were always against us. After all, what are we? Merchants, miners, tinkers, toy-makers; hardly the stuff of legend."

"There are a few warriors amongst us." Argued Thorin.

"Old warriors."

"I will take each and every one of these dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills. For then I called upon them, they came. Loyalty. Honour. A willing heart. I can ask no more than that."

"You don't have to do this. You have a choice. You've done honourably by our people. You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains, a life of peace and plenty. A life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor."

"From my grandfather to my father, this has come to me. They dreamt of the day when the dwarves of Erebor would reclaim their homeland. There is no choice, Balin. Not for me."

"Then we are with you, laddie. We will see it done."

Amelia followed the dwarves into Bilbo's living room, coughing when they all started smoking. She sat on the floor besides Ori, someone who she was quickly becoming close to, as they all began humming, and Thorin began singing.

'_Far over the Misty Mountains cold,_

_To dungeons deep and caverns old._

_We must away ere break of day,_

_To find our long-forgotten gold._

_The pines were roaring on the height,_

_The winds were moaning in the night._

_The fire was red, it flaming spread,_

_The trees like torches blazed with light.'_

Amelia just sat there while they sang. It wasn't like they knew the words, although the meaning still got to her. It was still, after all, deep down, her home. As the song started to end, she felt herself drifting into a sleep, leaning against the chair behind her.

-8-

Kili woke in the early hours of the next morning, stretching his arms as he felt them crack from the stiffness. He looked around, seeing that he'd fallen asleep in the hobbit's living room along with everyone else, who were also beginning to wake up. Swinging his legs onto the floor, he cursed as his feet hit something beneath him. He'd forgotten that Amelia and Ori had fallen asleep beneath his chair the previous night, and he'd managed to lay a blanket on top of her before falling asleep himself.

"Morning brother." Said Fili, who stood over his brother with a roll in his hand.

"Morning."

"Uncle says we should be going in a few minutes. We just need to get everything ready." He informed. "You better wake Miss. Amelia up as well."

Kili watched as Fili walked back outside where the ponies had been brought. "Amelia." He said, crouching down by her. "Miss. Amelia. It's time to go."

"Hmph." Murmured Amelia, swatting his hand away, even though it wasn't there to begin with.

"Do you want us to leave without you?"

"Ok, ok, I'm up." Moaned Amelia, lifting her head to see him grinning. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"Right, well… is there any breakfast left?"

"I'm not sure. I think we're leaving now. You go out to the ponies and I'll bring you something." Amelia gave him an odd look.

"You sure?" Kili nodded, before walking into the kitchen. _Well, that was odd_, thought Amelia. Not that she was going to complain. Walking outside, she saw that the Sun was just coming up, and there was a long line of ponies in a line outside the Hobbit hole. Most of the dwarves were saddling them up.

"Ah, there you are, Miss Amelia." Said Thorin. "I'm afraid you're going to have to share a pony seeing as we were unaware you were coming, and Gandalf has complete faith in the hobbit, for some unknown reason…" he muttered to himself.

"That's fine." Replied Amelia, snapping Thorin out of his thoughts.

"Miss. Amelia." Came a voice from behind her. Refraining from rolling her eyes at the 'miss', she turned around to see Kili holding out a roll of buttered bread. "Sorry, it's all I could find. I think Bombur ate it all."

"I'm sure it is fine." She replied, nibbling at the edges, which was a strange habit she had when eating breakfast.

"So, which pony is yours then?" Kili asked, trying to make conversation.

"Oh, apparently I have to share with someone."

"Oh, well…" but Kili was cut off by Bofur yelling.

"Hey Amelia! Come sit with me!"

"Um…"

"Go." Said Kili. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, then." Kili watched as she walked over to Bofur and was helped onto the pony. Swallowing down the strange sense of jealously that flared in him at seeing Bofur climb on the pony behind her, he climbed onto his own and set off after the company. Why was he feeling like this? He'd only known her for one night! Wanting a distraction, Kili decided to make things on the journey a little more interesting. "So, how about we place a little wager on whether the hobbit is going to turn up?" he said, loud enough for the entire company to hear. Soon enough, most of the dwarves had placed bets of a sackful of coins. It seemed that not many of them had faith that Bilbo was going to turn up. In fact, only Kili, Fili, Amelia, Oin, Ori, Bofur and Gandalf thought that he would turn up. The rest of them wagered that he wouldn't, and Thorin just rode on, listening to the bets taking place, but not taking part in them.

"I really hope that Bilbo turns up." Said Amelia, mostly to Ori, Kili, Fili and Bofur, who were riding around her. "Because I don't have any money."

"Don't worry." Said Ori, encouragingly. "He'll turn up. And if he doesn't, you can always borrow some money."

"Thank, Ori." Amelia smiled. If she didn't know any better, she would say that these dwarves were actually her friends. Which she was not used to. She was used to just being on her own, and it wasn't something she enjoyed. Here she had people to look out for her, to talk to, and to be quite frank, she really liked their company.

They rode on for a while longer, Amelia being thoroughly entertained by the stories that Bofur was telling her. Most of which were making her laugh quite loudly. He was currently telling her the story of how Kili had fallen out of a tree into a giant mud puddle when he was younger. Something that she could tell most of the dwarves had heard before, but still made them laugh. Amelia burst out laughing, nearly tumbling off of the horse as a result. Kili blushed behind her. He hadn't really wanted her to know that story…

"Don't worry Kili." Said Amelia. "We're laughing with you, not at you."

"No." interrupted Fili. "I'm pretty sure we're laughing at him. Oh, look! He's blushing!"

"I am not!" Amelia turned to see Kili glaring at his older brother.

"I'm sure you're not the only one that's fallen out of a tree Kili." She soothed. "It's just unfortunate that you fell into a mud puddle." She sniggered. Kili 'hmphed' before looking away, obviously getting annoyed at their teasing. "Aw, Kili. Come on, I was only kidding! Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"Maybe…but…you have to do what I say for the rest of the day." He grinned. Amelia's mouth hung open. Was he really saying this? She was only joking, and it wasn't even that insulting! But most of all, she dreaded what he would make her do. Would it be bad, or would he be nice? Amelia knew it would be the first.

"I don't trust you, but I suppose…" she grunted, before facing forward again. She was _sooooo_ going to regret this.

"Wait! Wait!"

"Did you hear that?" asked Bofur, who was slowing the pony down to a stop.

"Yeah, sounded like…"

"I signed it!" Indeed, it was Bilbo Baggins running towards them, looking very out of breath with the contract in his hand flowing behind him. Handing the contract over to Balin, who inspected it closely with a pocket-glass, he glanced around nervously at all of the dwarves perched on the ponies who were staring at him not very discreetly.

"Everything appears to be in order." Said Balin. "Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." Amelia whistled in support as the rest of the dwarves cheered. Well, all of them apart from Thorin Oakenshield himself, who did not look too impressed.

"Give him a pony." He ordered.

"No, no, no, no, that- that won't be necessary, thank you, but I-I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I-I-I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once-ARGH!" Bilbo Baggins was, unfortunately for him, cut off from his speech as Fili and Kili rode up behind him and lifted him up onto a pony from under his arms.

"Oi, lads!" shouted Amelia. "Pay up!" She grinned. To say she was happy she was on the winning side of the bet was incredibly accurate. She was going to have some money! Something she hadn't owned in many a year. Well, aside from the rare amount of coins that she found on the floor sometimes that people had dropped. The other dwarves grumbled as they threw bags of coins over the heads of other dwarves, and soon enough, Amelia was left with quite a good amount of money. Maybe she should bet more often, she thought to herself, dropping the pouches into her bag.

"Come on, Nori, pay up." Said Oin, smugly. "Go on."

"What's that about?" asked Bilbo.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up. Most of them bet you wouldn't."

"What did you think?"

"Hmmmm." Replied Gandalf, catching a sack of money that was thrown to him by Dori. "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second."

"Urgh! All this horse hair, I'm having a reaction." Moaned Bilbo, searching in his pockets for something. "No, no, wait, wait, stop! Stop! We have to turn around!"

"What on earth is the matter?"

"I forgot my handkerchief."

Amelia rolled her eyes. This hobbit could not be serious! She thought he was a little…annoying. The way that he acted as though he couldn't live without his possessions. But he had grown on her throughout the evening. She understood that it could be quite hard of a decision to go on an adventure like this, but this was really too much!

"Here! Use this!" yelled Bofur, tearing a strip of cloth from his clothes and throwing it over to Bilbo, who took it rather reluctantly and looked at it in disgust.

"Move on." Commanded Thorin.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end." Said Gandalf. "You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead."

"Here, here!" shouted Amelia, to which Gandalf just glared. "Sorry." The company rode on in mostly in silence for the next few hours. I say mostly due to the fact that Amelia did not like silences, and so found the need to fill them with irrelevant conversations, such as what the weather would be like tomorrow and other things that were similar. In truth, most of the dwarves found what she was saying quite amusing, not that they would say anything…

-8-

The company were camped near the edge of a cliff for the night, weary after the first night of traveling. Amelia was sat with Fili and Kili, who had come over to talk to her after she had got off of her pony with Bofur. She was currently watching tiny insects being sucked into a sleeping Gloin's mouth as he inhaled and exhaled as he slept, and found it quite disgusting if she was being honest.

"Nice." She muttered, resting her head down on a blanket that was nearby.

"Do you mind laying on my blanket?" asked Kili, looking down at her. He didn't really care that she was using it. He and Fili were on guard duty anyway, so he wouldn't need it, but she didn't know that.

"Not really." Came the reply.

"I guess I'll have to take it back then. Or, I can just tell you to give it back. You still have to do as I say…" he smirked. He'd already made her sing at the top of her lungs many songs when they were traveling, and although she didn't have a particularly bad voice, she still found it incredibly embarrassing. That was only one thing he'd made her do, but she found it by far the worst…

She narrowed her eyes at him before lifting her head to retrieve the blanket.

"Woah! I was just kidding. I don't need it anyway. Keep it."

"….ok then. But I'm still suspicious."

"Of course you are."

"What's Bilbo doing?" she asked. He was currently looking very suspicious near the horses, and she soon saw this was because he was feeding them apples from his supply. She rolled her eyes. He was not very subtle.

"Hello girl. That's a good girl. It's our little secret, Myrtle; you must tell no one. Shh, shh." Amelia was just about to lie back down again, when a scream sounded in the air. Sitting bolt upright, although she didn't know it, she subconsciously leaned closer to Kili, as if for protection. He responded by putting his arm around her. "What was that?"

"Orcs." Replied Kili, exchanging a grin with his brother. "Watch this." He murmured in Amelia's ear.

"Orcs?" echoed Bilbo. He looked terrified at this point, and Amelia had to admit, she was far from being calm. She'd had encounters with Orcs before, only small groups, but that didn't mean they were any friendlier. She had many scars from her fights with them, and she preferred not to remember them. Needless to say, since she'd come out of many fights with them alive, she was not well liked. Mind you, not many people were with Orcs.

"Throat cutters." Replied Fili. "They'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep." Added Kili. "Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood." They exchanged looks and started laughing, Amelia giving a shiver at what they had said. Sure, they had been kidding, but what they were saying was true, and it wasn't an appealing thought.

"You think that's funny?" snapped Thorin, who had snapped awake as soon as the word 'orc' had been mentioned. "You think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it."

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world."

Kili looked down in shame at what he'd said. He hadn't meant to insult his uncle by what he's said. He just wanted to have a bit of fun, lighten up the journey a little bit. And now, he'd scared Bilbo and Amelia (if her shiver was anything to go by) and his uncle was mad at him…

"Don't mind him, laddie." Said Balin. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of orcs lead by the most vile of all their race; Azog, the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the king.

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us. That is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armor rent…wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield.

"Azog, the Defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, no song, that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could called King."

Balin finished his tale, and by this time, all of the dwarves, including Amelia, were stood up, looking at Thorin who had been standing by the edge of the cliff and was now walking back towards the fire, in awe.

"But the pale orc?" asked Bilbo, breaking the silence. "What happened to him."

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Snapped Thorin, ending the conversation.

-8-

What none of them saw was the group of orcs and wargs camping on another cliff across from the valley.

"Send word to the master. We have found the dwarf-scum." Growled the leader.

-8-

A/N: ok, so a long wait for a not so long chapter I'm afraid, but I've been very busy. We have quite a few original scenes in here, so I hope you enjoy them. I'll try and get the next chapter out quicker than this one.

Please remember to favourite and review! Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3- Trolls

Chapter Three- Trolls

A/N: sorry about the wait! I've started college and have got a truck load of work to do. But without further ado, the next chapter! And thanks for your lovely reviews!

The company had awoke early the next morning, even though it had been late going to sleep the night before due to the orcs and the story of Thorin's battle, which Amelia doubted would leave anyone's mind any time soon. They'd quickly eaten breakfast- a very measly portion of flavourless porridge that Amelia had to force down, even if she was hungry.

Now, they were riding through a forest, rain soaking them to the bone. Amelia was riding on the back of Kili's pony; an arrangement they'd made the day before, part of the terms of the little 'agreement' they'd made yesterday. Not that she was complaining about this part. Even she had to admit it was quite a pleasant experience riding on a pony in front of Kili with his hands around her waist holding the reins.

Although Amelia was used to living outside all the time, what with her having no proper home and all, she was also used to getting soaking wet from the rain, and although she normally stopped where she was going and sought for shelter, it didn't mean that she liked it any better than the others did. In fact, they all looked about as miserable as she did. Cold and wet, they trudged along in the forest, all praying that the rain would stop soon.

Kili was also enjoying his position on the horse. He'd only known Amelia for one day, and yet he felt like he'd known her for years. She was funny, beautiful and could take care of herself from what Gandalf had said, although he was yet to see her fight. He'd seen her swords that rested in her bag, and her bow which was attached to the pony, and they were well made. He could only assume they would match her fighting skills. And it was pretty obvious she could take care of herself; she said she travelled a lot, and he didn't think she was one to travel with her parents, who she hadn't yet mentioned. He wondered about her past, wanted to know everything about her. Her family, what they did, her childhood and all the adventures and things she used to do. He'd never felt this way about anyone before.

Then there came the question of what she actually was. It was a question that made all of the dwarves wonder. She obviously was not an elf- she had no pointed ears, and didn't have the slim, graceful body type that they had. But at the same time, her body was too slender to be that of a dwarfs, yet she had the height for that. He would say she was human if she was not so short. They were all wondering this from time to time when it would cross their minds as they rode on, but none of them knew how to bring up the subject; they didn't know if it was a sore topic for her or not, and they didn't want to upset her.

Amelia shivered. She couldn't believe it but she could swear that the rain was getting even heavier, if that was even possible. Trying to wrap her arms around herself, she clutched at the edges of her cloak and tried to pull it further around herself as if it would keep her any drier. She was already soaked to the bone, so it didn't really do much good.

"Are you cold?" asked Kili, feeling her shiver.

"N-no." replied Amelia, cursing her stuttering due to her slightly chattering teeth.

"Here." Kili insisted, shrugging off his warmer and slightly more waterproof one and securely draping it around her shoulders to keep her warm, and replacing it with his regular one which he kept in his bag. A bit cliché, but he didn't want her to be cold.

"I can't take this. You'll get cold. Besides, I'm used to it anyway." She replied, moving to take it off. Kili frowned. If he had it his way, she would never be cold again. She would never need anything ever again. He would provide for her, and keep her happy. He shook his head, not quite sure where those thoughts had come from, but not finding any lies in them when he thought about it.

"Keep it. It'll do us no good if you get sick."

"But then you'll get sick."

"I'm a dwarf. We're tough." Amelia gave a half smile, remembering to bite her tongue about mentioning that she was indeed half dwarf. After all, she had no idea how these dwarves would react. She gave him a half smile in thanks, to which he returned, and leant back against his chest, trying to keep him at least a little bit warmer now his cloak was gone.

"Here, Mr Gandalf." Said Dori, interrupting their 'moment'. "Can't you do something about this deluge?" Amelia had to admit, he did look very sorry for himself.

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard." Replied Gandalf, to which Amelia rolled her eyes. She didn't think she would ever understand that wizard, and she didn't think she really wanted to.

"Are there any?" asked Bilbo, who was now riding behind Gandalf.

"What?"

"Other wizards?" Amelia now noticed that the rest of the company was listening in.

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two Blue Wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"And who is the fifth?"

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."

"Is he a great wizard, or is he…more like you?" Amelia snorted (not a very attractive thing, she though after she'd done it) at the offended look on Gandalf's face. She was beginning to like the hobbit more and more, she found. She could already see a small, even if it was a very small, change in the small hobbit.

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a very gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the east, and a good thing too, for always evil will look to find a foothold in this world." The dwarves exchanged a look at the dark meaning in Gandalf's little speech. It was safe to say, this conversation had not brightened their spirits.

-8-

For the rest of the day, Amelia mostly rode in silence. There wasn't really much she had to say. The other dwarves seemed to enjoy speaking about what they were going to do when they actually reclaimed Erebor, and it made her quite uncomfortable. If she told them who she was, would they let her stay, also have a claim to the mountain? She wasn't sure she wanted to risk losing these people who were quickly becoming something like a family to her, even if she had known them for little more than two days.

Kili also rode on in silence. He could see that Amelia was deep in thought. About what, he had no idea, but it looked important if her facial expression was anything to go by. He didn't want to interrupt her, so he just sat there and watched her think. Besides, there would be plenty of time to talk to her in the future. It was, after all, going to be a long journey.

It was just beginning to reach sunset when the dwarves reached an old, abandoned farmhouse that was in ruins. Thorin, who was in front, as usual, seemed to think this was a good place to stop.

"We'll camp here for the night. Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them." The brothers nodded, and after helping Amelia off of the horse, to which she protested to, but didn't refuse, they led the line of ponies into the woods. Amelia frowned. She felt a lot more exposed when Kili wasn't around, even if he was a little way away, and she felt stupid that she felt like that. She also felt very uncomfortable. She could have sworn she'd been here in the last few years (she'd been around this area frequently, and she was still wondering why she never visited Hobbiton. She deduced it was because it had seemed a bit boring to her.) And she remembered that this barn was fully functioning, with a farmer and his family living there. They made good pie if she remembered correctly, grinning at the thought.

"A farmer and his wife used to live here." Said Gandalf, breaking Amelia out of her thoughts. So she was right, this probably was the same farmhouse she had stolen from previously.

"Oin, Gloin." Commanded Thorin, ignoring the wizard, to which Gandalf was not pleased.

"Aye?"

"Get a fire going."

"Right you are."

"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the hidden valley." Suggested Gandalf.

"I have told you already, I will not go near that place."

"Why not? The elves could help us. We could get food, rest, advice."

"I agree." Piped up Amelia. Sure, she wasn't the biggest fan of elves, but she had nothing against them. And she rather liked Rivendell.

"I didn't ask you." Snapped Thorin in her direction. "And I do not need their advice." Amelia scowled and stormed off, not wanting to put up with Thorin's attitude. Honestly, you say one word to the man, and his mood turns like a flipped coin. She shook her head at the thought, which didn't really make much sense, and walked past the dwarves near the fire.

"Where you going, lass?" asked Bofur, seeing the annoyed look on her face.

"I need some space. I'll find Kili, or Fili or whatever…" she trailed off, giving a small smile before heading into the woods.

It didn't take long for her to find the two brothers. It wasn't as if they were being quiet.

"Hey, guys." She said, announcing herself. She sat down next to them giving them both a smile. It seemed her annoyance at Thorin was just while she was in his presence. She really hoped it went away, she couldn't cope with a whole journey being annoyed at him. It took up too much energy.

"Hello Amelia." Greeted Fili.

"Hi." Muttered Kili. Amelia raised an eyebrow. Or she tried to. She never could do that. He was looking a little uncomfortable, a blush was just fading from his cheeks. He was obviously still embarrassed from whatever he and Fili had been talking about before she came over.

"What brings you over here?" asked Fili.

"Oh, nothing much. Your uncle just…he got in a bit of a bad mood when Gandalf mentioned Rivendell. He snapped at me, and I got annoyed. Nothing major, but I have a bit of a short temper, or so I've been told. Needed some space."

"And you came to us. We're flattered. Well, I bet Kili is anyway." Teased Fili, making Kili blush again.

"I just need to…" trailed off Kili, standing up and walking through the trees.

"What were you saying before I came?" asked Amelia, frowning. She didn't like the way Kili was acting towards her. He didn't even look in her direction. And it was obvious after what Fili said, that he hadn't left because he needed the loo.

"Oh, nothing." Blew off Fili. Amelia glared. "Ok! I was merely saying how cozy you looked on the horse today, in his cloak and all. Amelia blushed. "Funny, that was Kili's reaction."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look." Said Fili, now serious. "You've only known my brother for two days, and I can already tell you like him. Don't argue." He said, seeing that she was about to interrupt. "And I'll tell you this now; he likes you too. A lot. But if you don't like him in that way, I want you to tell him. Dwarves only love once, and if you encourage him only to turn him down, he'd be heartbroken." Amelia looked down. Kili liked her? That was something she definitely hadn't seen coming. They barely knew each other. And what if Fili was saying this just to make her feel better? But then again, why would he do that? Needless to say, she was now a bit confused. Fili smiled. He'd also grown fond of the girl since they'd met, not as much as his brother, but she was becoming something of a sister to him over the days he'd known her. He hadn't liked what he'd said to her, he'd been a bit blunt. But above everything else, he was Kili's older brother, and it was his job to protect him, even if Kili said he didn't need protecting. And it was clear from her reaction, she liked him back. Now they just needed to admit it.

Kili came back some time later. He seemed to be back to normal, and was talking to Amelia again as if nothing had happened. It was now getting quite dark, and they couldn't see very far in front of them. Standing up to stretch her legs, Amelia wondered over to where the ponies were, squinting when she noticed that some were missing. Counting the ponies, it seemed that she was right in her initial realization. There were two ponies missing.

"Kili! Fili!" she shouted, careful not to be too loud, in case the thing that took the ponies was still out there.

"What?" asked Kili, coming to stand next to her.

"Two ponies are missing." She stated.

"….Ah."

The three of them stood for a few minutes staring at the ponies, as if the longer they did that, the more chance the ponies would come back. They were dreading Thorin's reaction to this. He would _not_ be pleased. Deep in her thoughts, Amelia jumped when she heard Bilbo speak behind her.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"We're supposed to be looking out for the ponies." Said Kili, not looking away.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem." Continued Fili.

"We had sixteen."

"Now there's fourteen." Finished Amelia. "Daisy and Bungo are missing. And I really want to know who named these ponies."

"Well, that's not good." Murmured Bilbo. "That is not good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

"NO!" shouted the other three.

"Uhh, no." said Fili. Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it." Amelia rolled her eyes. Of course they would say that!

"Well, uh…" stuttered Bilbo, looking around. "Look, some-something big uprooted these trees."

"Wow." Murmured Amelia, loud enough for the other three to hear. "Really? I thought it would be something like a rabbit. There goes my theory." Kili snorted at her words before regaining his composure.

"Right, anyway, that was our thinking, Bilbo. Not Amelia's, obviously…but still…" he drifted off, seeing he was rambling.

"Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous." Continued Bilbo, as if the other two hadn't even spoken.

"Hey!" shouted Fili. "There's a light. Over here! Stay down." The four of them ran through the forest towards the light that Fili had seen, hiding behind a log when they realized that it was indeed a fire. Kili grabbed hold of Amelia's hand when a harsh sounding laughter sounded from the direction of the fire.

"What is it?" asked Bilbo.

"Trolls." Muttered Kili, grinning at his brother before running towards the fire. Of course, this meant that he was technically dragging Amelia with him as well, as he still had a hold of her hand. Not that she was complaining. It seemed her hand fit perfectly in his. She scrunched her face at the thought. Her thoughts were becoming a lot…what was the word? Softer? In any case, none of these types of thoughts had _ever_ crossed her mind before.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" exclaimed Bilbo, who had caught up with them. "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something!"

"Uh huh…" said Amelia. "Hey! Is that dinner?" she asked, now seeing the three bowls of soup that he was balancing on his arms.

"What? Oh! Yes. Here you go." Amelia grinned and took a bowl, quickly eating it, not in a very 'lady-like' way. Not that she cared.

"Anyway, come on. We have to do something!" urged Bilbo again.

"Yes; you should." Said Kili. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small."

"N-n-no…"

"It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you."

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl." Continued Fili.

"Twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown-once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Bilbo, trying to remember Fili's instructions. But when he turned around to ask them, they'd already disappeared.

Now it turns out, when Bilbo had been pushed forward, the brothers had quickly planned to run back to camp to tell their uncle and the company what had transpired. After all, they couldn't keep something like this hidden from them. Unfortunately, Amelia had tuned out the rest of the conversation since she had started eating, so they had to turn back and drag her away, with her complaining that they were spilling her soup and she would make them pay for that. Needless to say, it was not a threat they were going to lose sleep over.

"What are we doing?" asked Amelia. "Where's Bilbo?"

"Oh, he went off to see that was going on…it will be fine!" assured Fili, as he saw the look on Amelia's face. "We're just going to get uncle, and then we'll be there as soon as possible."

"Right…ok. But you still owe me some soup."

"Yeah, yeah, you can have all of my soup if you just hurry up!" moaned Kili, who was now having to pull Amelia in the direction of camp as she had slowed right down. Amelia grumbled as she sped up, finally reaching camp, confused when she couldn't see Gandalf. Had he left?

"Fili, Kili, what are you doing, lads?" asked Balin, seeing the brothers catch their breath. This had the rest of the company's attention.

"…trolls." Said Fili, pointing towards the forest. "They took the ponies…Bilbo's trying to get them back."

"Trolls!" exclaimed Thorin, quickly standing up and gathering his weapons. Amelia rolled her eyes. She was sure he was just annoying her now because she was still annoyed at him snapping at her, and it would disappear in the morning, but still…

Snapping out of her own thoughts, Amelia saw that the dwarves had gathered their weapons and were running towards the forest. Quickly grabbing her bow and knifes, she ran after them, quickly catching them up. (She was a pretty fast runner having been doing it for most of her life)

Coming to a quick stop just outside where the trolls were staying, she overheard some of their conversation. She smirked. They really did sound as stupid as they looked.

"Perhaps there's more Burglar-Hobbits around these parts." Said one troll. "Might be enough for a pie!"

"Grab him!" shouted another.

"He's too quick!" Amelia hid a chuckle as Bilbo ran around the troll camp trying to dodge their huge hands which were reaching down to grab him. Even though this was quite a bad situation, it didn't mean it wasn't amusing.

"Come here, you little…" grunted the troll Amelia had heard speak first. He'd finally managed to grab Bilbo by the legs, and was now currently being held upside down in the air. Amelia was pretty sure he was going green from being roughly shaken as he was lifted up. "Gotcha! Are there any more of you little fellas 'iding where you shouldn't?"

"Nope." Replied Bilbo, quickly. Well that didn't sound convincing in the slightest, thought Amelia, rolling her eyes.

"He's lying." Piped up another troll.

"No, I'm not!"

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal."

"Now." Whispered Thorin, so as to not alert the trolls of the rest of the company's presence. Being, in Amelia's opinion, very dramatic, Kili leapt out of the bushes they were crouched in, and cut one of the trolls' legs with his sword, making it howl and fall down with a 'thud!'.

"Drop him!" he shouted, aiming an arrow at the one holding the hobbit, who definitely did not look very well in his current position.

"You what?"

"I said, drop him!" commanded Kili. He may have been trying to sound strong and commanding, and even _he_ was aware that he was trying to show off to Amelia. He was, almost subconsciously, trying to prove to her that he could look after her. Protect her. Not that she would admit she needed protection, but he would do it anyway. He was beginning to think he would do anything for her. It was something which was on the one hand, beginning to scare him, but also make him happy. He glanced back to where the company was, and he could see Amelia smirking. He wasn't sure why, but he soon knew as a heavy weight knocked him over. It turns out, the trolls had got bored of the 'burglar-hobbit' now that Kili had come, and had decided to throw Bilbo on top of him.

Seeing the distraction, the rest of the dwarves ran out of the bushes, yelling battle cries and brandishing their weapons. Amelia ran out with them, pulling arrows out and aiming at the trolls' heads. Most of her shots were pretty accurate, but the arrows were just bouncing off their skin like it was a wall. Giving up on that, she flung her bow back on her back, and charged at the trolls legs, slicing and cutting as best she could. She was actually beginning to enjoy herself. It wasn't the best way to spend the night, but it was better than sitting around the fire being bored, she supposed.

Suddenly, Amelia was knocked off of her feet, as the troll she was under had swooped his hand down, flinging her across the camp and banging into a tree. She groaned. It wasn't serious, not by a long shot, but that wouldn't definitely leave a bruise. She looked up (she couldn't really stand up at that moment in time, she was already beginning to feel sore) when she heard the camp go quiet. Her mouth opened in shock to see Bilbo being held in the middle of two trolls by his hands and feet, looking like they were going to tear him apart.

"Bilbo!" shouted Kili, who was the closest dwarf to Amelia, as he had been making his way over to her when he had seen her hit the tree.

"No!" shouted Thorin. This shocked Amelia. Since when did he care about the hobbit? All he'd done was complain about him.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off." Commanded the troll who was holding Bilbo's left side. Amelia sighed in relief when the dwarves did as they were told. She really didn't want to see the trolls eat her little hobbit friend. But now it looked like they would all be in for it.

-8-

The dwarves had now been split into two groups. Half of them (Dwalin, Bofur, Dori, Ori and Nori) had been tied to the spit and were now roasting over the fire. All of the others, including Amelia, were tied in sacks and left in a pile. Amelia had been handled none too roughly when the trolls had noticed her by the tree, and had basically thrown her into the sack, and tied it rather tightly. The only good thing about her situation right now was that she was quite literally lying on top of Kili, her face looking up to his. It was a rather pleasant sight in her opinion.

"Don't bother cooking them." Said a troll. "Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly."

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." Said another.

"Is this really necessary?" asked Dori, who was beginning to look a little red with the heat over the fire.

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice."

"Untie us, you monsters!" shouted Oin.

"Take on someone your own size!" added Gloin.

Amelia rolled her eyes. As if _that_ would get them out of this situation.

"Are you okay?" asked Kili, who hadn't really spoken to Amelia since before they had ran back to camp. He'd seen when she'd hit the tree, and it had looked pretty painful. Not that she had complained. She was strong, and he admired that about her. He was having to whisper so as to not allow the other dwarves have an easy time listening to their conversation, and so the trolls didn't hear.

"Yeah. I'm not going to be doing cartwheels any time soon, but just give me two or three days." She joked. Kili chuckled.

"Never mind the seasoning." Snapped a troll. "We ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's move on. I don't fancy being turned into stone."

"Wait!" shouted Bilbo, getting everyone's attention. "You are making a terrible mistake!"

"You can't reason with them, they're half wits!" shouted Dori.

"Half-wits?" asked Bofur. "What does that make us?" Bofur didn't get an answer, as most of the people around the camp were watching Bilbo attempt to stand up in his sack, which, although he succeeded in the end, resulted in him falling over a few times before he managed it.

"Uh, I meant, with the, uh, with, uh, the seasoning." Stuttered Bilbo.

"What about the seasoning?"

"Well, have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up."

"Speak for yourself!" shouted Amelia. She was sure that she took more offence to that than the others. She was a woman after all.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?"

"Shut up, and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk." Added another troll.

"Uh, th-the secret to cooking dwarf is, um—"

"Yes? Come on!"

"It's, uh…"

"Tell us the secret."

"Ye, yes, I'm telling you, the secret is…to skin them first!"

"Tom, get me the filleting knife."

"If I get you, you little…"

"I won't forget that!" shouted the dwarves.

"What a load of rubbish!" shouted Tom. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all!"

"'e's right!" shouted William, the other troll that had been turning the dwarves over the spit. "Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy." William grabbed Bombur, who was easily the biggest dwarf in the company, and held him upside down over his mouth, like he was about to eat him.

"Not-not that one, he-he's infected!" shouted Bilbo.

"You what?"

"Yeah, he's got worms in his…tubes." William dropped Bombur back into the pile of dwarves in disgust. "In-in fact, they all have. They're in-infested with parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

"Parasites, did he say parasites?" asked Oin.

"We don't have parasites, you have parasites!" shouted Kili.

Amelia rolled her eyes. She's began to understand what Bilbo had been doing about half way through the conversation. These dwarves really were stupid. It turns out Thorin had also understood Bilbo's plan, as he began to kick the others, rather roughly, which quickly made them proclaim about how they were riddled with parasites.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm." Said Oin.

"Mine are the biggest parasites!" yelled Kili. "I've got huge parasites!"

"We're riddled."

"Yes, I'm riddled."

"Yes we are. Badly!"

"What are you talking about? They look fine to me!" yelled Tom, who bent down and picked up Amelia, who scrunched up her nose at the smell of the troll. "Oi! William, I don't know what this thing is, but it ain't a dwarf."

"Well, what do you suppose it is, then?"

"Could be another burglar-hobbit?"

"No! No!" shouted Amelia. "I'm a dwarf. Totally. Dwarf." She clarified.

"Smells more human to me." Added Bert. Amelia gulped. How was she going to get out of this one?

"Besides, he was right. We're riddled with parasites. Full of them. Would give you terrible illnesses. Not good for you at all."

"What would you have us do, then? Let 'em all go?"

"Well…" said Bilbo, who was still basically speaking for the group.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" asked Bilbo, obviously offended.

"Fools?" asked Bert.

"The dawn will take you all!" shouted Gandalf, who, to Amelia, had magically appeared on top of a large rock above the clearing.

"Who's that?"

"No idea."

"Can we eat 'im too?"

Gandalf struck the rock with his staff, splitting it in half. The old man was obviously stronger than Amelia thought. This allowed sunlight to pour into the clearing, immediately hitting the trolls, turning them into stone with many screams and howls of the trolls' part. Thankfully they'd dropped Amelia before she could get stuck in their stone grip, although this meant that she had fallen on her already bruised parts of her body. She would definitely be very sore in the morning.

"Oh, get your foot out of my back!" shouted Dwalin, as the dwarves cheered for Gandalf. It looked like they would live to fight another day. It would exactly be the most dignified death, eaten by troll, Amelia thought to herself as she was being untied out of her sack.

-8-

A/N: Well there we have it. I'm not really sure what I think about this chapter, but I've updated! Wooo!

Please favourite and review!


	4. Chapter 4- More Danger

Chapter Four- More Danger

A/N: thank you to all of you who have reviewed! It means a lot! :)

-8-

It was the next morning by the time they had all been released out of their sacks. Needless to say, they now all stank of troll. Amelia was currently staggering over to the pile of weapons that had been discarded, looking for her bow. Seeing a piece of wood appearing at the top of the pile, she pulled it out, only to discover it wasn't her bow.

"I believe that would be mine." Came Kili's voice from behind her. She turned around to see him smirking at her. She huffed. He'd just spent the night in a troll sack, and he still looked gorgeous. Goodness only knows what I look like at the moment, she thought to herself, bitterly.

"Yes, well. I _was_ trying to find my own." She retorted. "Knowing my luck, it's probably right at the bottom."

"Looks like I'll have to help you, then." Amelia rolled her eyes. She would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying this, but still! "Here you go. Good as new." Said Kili, handing her own bow back.

"Thanks." She replied, blinking hardly as her head began to throb.

"You okay?" Amelia looked up. Right here was the amazing change she saw in Kili. One second he was joking with her, like he was trying to make her laugh, and the next, he was serious and worried about her. It was amazing to see.

"Yeah. I think I hit that tree a little harder than I thought. But I'll live."

"Here, let me look. Sit down."

"Kili, really…it's no problem…"

"Sit down." Amelia gave a little smile before walking over to a tree stump near the edge of the clearing. She didn't notice the rest of the dwarves smiling in their direction as Kili knelt in front of her, his face inches from hers as he ran his hands through her hair trying to find any bumps or blood or whatever he was looking for. She only had to lean forward a little bit and…

No! These thoughts didn't need to be running through her head right now! They already came up at other awkward times. Instead, she took the time to just stare at this face. His eyes were a deep brown, but they had a twinkle in the corner that was always there. His joyful side. It showed, to Amelia at least, that he was happy. A sign that everything was well. Then there was the fact that he had no beard. Something that, in Dwarven culture, would be frowned upon and found not to be attractive in the slightest. And she knew that Kili would feel insecure about that. He hadn't told her, but she knew he would. But she didn't care about that. It made him all the more beautiful to her. He was gentle when checking for her injuries. Like if he handled her any rougher she would break.

The rest of the company, who had been busy complaining about what had happened that night, were now watching the two in the corner. They'd seen the two get closer over the past few days, and it was a refreshing sight to see two people in a journey so dangerous get so close.

"I can't find any blood. But you may have a headache for a few days." Said Kili, leaning back.

"Since when did you know so much about medicine?" asked Amelia, giggling.

"I am a dwarf of many talents, miss." Replied Kili, giving a little bow.

"Oh really. And here I was thinking that you couldn't even ride a horse properly."

"That wasn't my fault. You pushed me off!"

"Whatever you say…" Joked Amelia, standing up and walking towards the rest of the company, who had looked away when they saw her get up, and were now having various conversations with each other. In fact, they were quickly making bets on how long it would be before the two of them got together.

"There must be a cave nearby." Said Thorin when Amelia reached them. She assumed they were talking about the trolls. I mean, who else did Thorin know who lived in a cave?

-8-

The company soon found the cave. It wasn't really hard. All they had to do was follow the foul smell that seemed to be hanging in the air. Goodness only knows what the actual cave smelt like.

"Oh, what is that stench?" asked Nori, covering his nose.

"It's a troll hoard." Replied Gandalf. "Be careful what you touch." As he said that, the dwarves started to enter the cave. Amelia opted to stay outside. She was sure the smell would just make her head worse, and she never was one for treasure or luxuries. She lived from the bare necessities for years, she could go without them for a little longer.

"Not going in?" asked Bilbo, who was also choosing not to go into the cave. He'd wandered into the entrance when they got there, and then decided that it was best if he just waited outside. He didn't doubt that whatever decision he made would be the wrong one in Thorin's eyes anyway.

"No. Not really feeling up to it." Replied Amelia.

"Yeah, I saw that. Looked rough. I'd recommend some rest, but it doesn't look like we'll be getting any on this trip."

"No…clever idea by the way, distracting the trolls. Basically saved me when they picked me up."

"Well…I wouldn't say…saved exactly…"

"No, I mean it. Thank you. And I can honestly say, I am really happy that you're on this journey with me, Bilbo." The hobbit merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders, as if he didn't know what to say to the compliment. He even blushed a little.

"Jealous, brother?" asked Fili, walking over to Kili who was staring in the direction of Amelia and Bilbo.

"Why would I be jealous?" asked Kili.

"Because she's talking to the hobbit and has just made him blush. I wonder what she said."

"Shut up." Snapped Kili, not in the mood for his brothers taunting.

"Bilbo." Said Gandalf, coming over to where he was sitting.

"Hmm?"

"Here. This is about your size."

"I can't take this."

"The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby."

"I have never used a sword in my life."

"And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one."

"Something's coming!" shouted Thorin.

"Gandalf-" started Bilbo.

"Stay together!" shouted the wizard, ignoring the poor hobbit, who was now staring at the blade in his hand as if it had just sprouted a head.

Kili ran over to Amelia and grabbed her hand, leading her to where the others were gathering, brandishing their weapons.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" came a voice from the bushes. Amelia furrowed her eyebrows and let go of Kili's hand. She assumed that Gandalf must know the strange looking man that entered the clearing they were in, as he visibly relaxed and started walking forward. Although she was a little more distracted by the rabbits pulling his sleigh and the bird-poo that ran from his head down the side of his face. _Ew_, she thought to herself. _He's let himself go. _

"Radagast!" beamed Gandalf. "Radagast the Brown. Ah. What on earth are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?" Radagast opened his mouth to reply, but promptly shut it again. He did this a few times, making it look as if he had forgotten what he was going to say.

"Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue. Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's just a silly old…" he trailed off as he pulled a stick insect out of his mouth. "…stick insect!"

"Okay, that was disgusting." Said Amelia, walking away from the wizards, who had gone to speak more privately. Kili nodded.

"So…" he started. "What were you and Bilbo talking about?" Amelia gave him a confused look.

"Why?"

"Just…making conversation, I suppose…"

"Not much. I was just thanking him for distracting those trolls. Any longer and I would have been a trolls dinner."

"No. I wouldn't let that happen." Said Kili rather forcefully. How could she think he would?

"Yeah? Well, thanks. That's always reassuring that you'll save me from being eaten." Kili smiled again, relaxing.

"What are you two love birds talking about?" asked Fili, suddenly appearing behind them.

"Shut up, Fili." Snapped Kili, turning to glare.

"What? I was only asking a simple question."

"We're just…talking about last night." Said Amelia, not exactly lying. "Those trolls stank."

"I won't disagree with you there. Are you okay, though? That looked like a nasty landing back there."

"I'm tough. I'll survive. Besides, someone's got to look after you two!" she joked, dodging out of the way to avoid Fili's hand, which was about to hit her on the arm. She was just about to walk away when she heard a howl in the distance. _Not good_, she thought.

"Was that a wolf?" asked Bilbo. "Are there- are there wolves out there?"

"Wolves?" replied Bofur. "No, that is not a wolf."

Amelia gulped. She'd had bad situations with wargs in the past, which she is sure was what had made that growl, and they weren't pretty. She quickly loaded her bow and aimed it the direction of the growl. No way was she going down without a fight if that was what it would come to. From behind a nearby crag, a warg finally appeared, leaping into the midst of the company, knocking down one of the dwarves. Amelia wasn't sure which one it had all happened so quickly, and Thorin wasted no time using his new sword he had got from the troll hoard to kill it. However, almost simultaneously, another warg had leapt down from the other side of the clearing, obviously going for Thorin as some sort of revenge, Amelia assumed. But Kili was too quick for it. He quickly loaded his bow and shot down the warg in the space of about at the most 5 seconds. Amelia gaped. She thought she was good with a bow, but Kili was exceptional. Mind you, to make herself feel better, she assured herself that she would be a better swordsman. But, however good Kili's aim was, the warg still got back up, only to be killed by Dwalin with a blow to the head.

"Warg-scouts!" growled Thorin. "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack?" stammered Bilbo.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" asked Gandalf, forcefully.

"No one." Replied Thorin, looking a little intimidated by the wizard.

"Who did you tell?!"

"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted."

"We have to get out of here." Stated Dwalin.

"We can't. We have no ponies; they bolted!" cried Ori.

"I'll draw them off." Said Radagast.

"These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you." Replied Gandalf, looking a little worried for the other wizard.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try."

"He is one sassy wizard." Muttered Amelia, to the nearest dwarf to her, which so happened to be Bofur.

"Aye." He agreed.

And so the company set off, running as fast as they could to get away from the wargs that were not far behind them. Occasionally they heard Radagast in the distance, yelling out and taunting the pack, saying things like,

"Come and get me! Haha!" The company were currently hiding behind one of the big rocks that were around, and peering around the corner to see what was going on.

"Come on!" ushered Gandalf, leading them around the rocks and across the field that they were running over. "Stay together."

"Move!" shouted Thorin. The company ran on, hiding from rock to rock as they tried to keep out of the orcs' eyesight. But even Amelia knew that they would need a great deal of luck to get out of this one. They'd barely got out of the troll situation unscathed! They hid behind another rock to hide from the wargs that they knew were just on the other side. Amelia felt as though if she breathed too loud, they would hear her. "Ori, no! Come back!" Amelia looked up to see that Ori had continued to run past the rock, not noticing that the others had stopped.

"Come on! Quick!"

"Where are you taking us?" demanded Thorin, to which he got no answer. Amelia wasn't really sure she wanted to know. She just wanted to get away from those vile orcs which would make their wargs tear them all to pieces if they got the chance. They, again, rested behind an outcropping of rock, sensing that something was wrong. Or at least, worst than it was. It turns out, that an orc and its warg had broken from the pack that were chasing Radagast, and was perched above them on the rock, the warg sniffing the air for their scent.

Amelia saw, from the corner of her eye, Thorin nod at Kili, who readied an arrow, and quickly shot down the warg, making it, and its rider, fall from the rock near the dwarves. The dwarves wasted no time in killing the orc before it called for backup, but Amelia knew, that with the sound they were making in killing the two creatures, that the other orcs would soon be over there to see what the noise was about.

"Move! Run!" shouted Gandalf. Amelia, whose head was _still_ throbbing, was not running as well as she could. She was getting out of breath, and simply did not have the energy to keep going. But she knew that she couldn't slow down. She didn't want to become a burden to the rest of the company, not when Thorin still hadn't fully accepted her. Sure, he had seemed fine with her at Bilbo's house, he'd even began to partially smile, but she still didn't want to make the situation worse for herself and the others. So she kept running.

"There's more coming!" shouted Kili, looking round and seeing them becoming surrounded by wargs and their riders.

"Kili! Shoot them!" ordered Thorin.

"We're surrounded!" added Fili. Amelia caught up with the others and pulled out her bow. She would have to get more arrows, she thought to herself. She wasn't sure where she could get them, but she'd worry about that later. Starting to shoot the orcs, she found herself back to back with Kili, giving her some form of comfort.

"Where is Gandalf?" asked Kili.

"He has abandoned us!" cried Dwalin. The company gradually moved closer to the rock that, unknown to them, Gandalf had disappeared to. Amelia saw Ori hit an orc with his slingshot. Not very surprisingly, it didn't do much other than anger the orc.

"Hold your ground!" Amelia continued to shoot the orcs, but it seemed that they just weren't going down in numbers.

"This way, you fools!" yelled Gandalf, who had popped up from a crack in the rock.

"Come on, move!" shouted Thorin. "Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!" Amelia started to back up to the rock, where the dwarves and Bilbo had slid into, but refused to go in.

"Kili!" she shouted. He had only moved a few metres from where he had previously been standing. "Kili, come on!"

"Amelia, get in." ordered Thorin, who had also waited at the top of the crack to wait for his nephew. She knew he wouldn't leave a member of his company behind, not least his own nephew.

"No. Not until Kili's here."

"I wasn't asking." Amelia scowled, and was about to shout again, when she felt hands on her back pushing her into the crack. It was only a short fall, a few metres at the most, but it still hurt like hell when she landed on her bum at the bottom.

"Come here, lass." Said Bofur, helping her up. It was a good job he did that when he did, as a second later, Thorin and Kili were sliding down into the hidden cave.

"Kili!" yelled Amelia, moving forward to hug him. It was strange how everyone nearly dying altered peoples actions, for she would never have done that with the entire company watching in any other situation. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd have done it at all. After all, she hadn't had much experience with…well, people in general. "You idiot."

"What?" asked Kili, dazed.

"You didn't move up there."

"I was a little busy, if you didn't notice, Amy."

"Yeah, well…shut up." She muttered. "Wait, Amy?"

"Yeah…your name is Amelia, so I thought, you know, Amy? Don't you like it? I won't call you it again…"

"No! No, I like it. Amy." She smiled. "But, uh, what is that noise from outside?" she asked, turning to the rest of the company, who were struggling to keep the smiles from their faces. They would never use the word, but the two of them were rather _cute_ together. None of the dwarves answered. Instead, an orc simply decided to come tumbling down the hole and land in front of her feet. "Ew! It nearly touched me!" she joked, seeing an arrow sticking out of its chest.

"Elves." Growled Thorin, pulling out the arrow rather roughly.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" asked Dwalin, peering down the tunnel.

"Follow it of course!" enthused Bofur.

"I think that would be wise." Agreed Gandalf. Thorin merely grumbled. Amelia could tell he was beginning to regret the wizard coming along. And so the company walked on, through the very narrow oath that ran between two tall cliffs. Amelia was walking between Kili and Bofur, and continuously laughed when the dwarves struggled to get through certain gaps. She didn't have that problem, as she had a much leaner body due to her human side, and so found it rather amusing when they got stuck. Eventually, after walking for a few minutes, the path finally opened up into a more open area, revealing an valley below that Amelia knew rather well even though she had never been there before.

"The valley of Imraldis." Said Gandalf. "In the common tongue, it's known by another name."

"Rivendell." Breathed Bilbo, staring into the valley below, much like Amelia was.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea."

"This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy!" said Thorin, glaring at the wizard.

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

"You think the elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us."

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me."

"I take offence to that!" shouted Amelia. Gandalf turned to look at her. "What? I was merely saying that I can be charming when I want to be." Kili scoffed. "What! I can. This just proves I've never wanted to be charming with any of you!" she said, and quickly stomped down to Gandalf to walk with him and Bilbo.

-8-

A/N: not a very long chapter, but I couldn't resist updating! So there we have it!

Please remember to favourite and review!


	5. Chapter 5- Rivendell

Chapter Five- Rivendell

The company continued on down the pathway towards Rivendell. It was safe to say that Gandalf was becoming increasingly frustrated with the dwarves; they had been walking very slowly since they had discovered they were meeting the elves, and it was obvious that it was not because they were tired. To be honest, in Amelia's point of view, it was mainly the older dwarves who were not happy. She didn't understand why. I mean, the elves really weren't that bad. She'd never met them directly, but she'd seen them around, and they seemed that they were the type of people to always do what was best for their people.

"Will you dwarves hurry up?" snapped Gandalf, almost making Bilbo crash into him if he hadn't stopped in time. Thorin grunted and walked forward.

"Temperamental dwarf." Muttered Amelia.

"I've always wanted to come to Rivendell." Whispered Bilbo to Amelia. "I've read about it in so many books. Even so, it isn't what I imagined."

"I know." She whispered back. It was true that it truly was a beautiful place. It was so green, and the statues that greeted them on the path looked so majestic, Amelia felt a little intimidated walking past them.

"Amy!" she heard behind her. She turned to see Kili running towards her. "Wait!" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"About earlier…I mean…"

"Seriously, you're still hung up on that?" she laughed. "I was only joking. I know I'm not exactly the most 'charming' people you've ever met. I'm about as charming as a toadstool."

"I wouldn't argue with you there." Kili grinned.

"Hey!"

"You said it, not me."

Amelia pouted. "Still…" They walked across a bridge that led to the main entrance of Rivendell. Amelia could see some elves walking around going about their business, some gazing at the company of dwarves in curiosity, but quickly turning away when they saw her looking. She really did feel very out of place here. She wouldn't class herself as good-looking. Not at all. So being in a place that was the most beautiful place she'd ever been wasn't an enjoyable experience, however much she might like it there.

"I don't like this place." Muttered Kili.

"It's not that bad." Whispered back Amelia.

"Yeah, but…still…" Amelia rolled her eyes and continued walking across the bridge. They'd reached the end of it now, standing on a round platform that led to a building further up via a staircase.

"Mithrandir." Said a dark haired elf that walked down the flight of stairs.

"Ah, Lindir!" greeted Gandalf.

"This was so planned." Commented Amelia, earning a glare from Gandalf and Thorin. Amelia shrugged her shoulders. "What?"

"Stay sharp." Warned Thorin. Amelia rolled her eyes. This dwarf really needed to learn to trust people. Even she could see, so far, that the elves here were not going to hurt them in any way. They'd even helped kill the orcs that were hunting them, and if Gandalf trusted them, then it was pretty obvious that this was the best way to continue on with their journey. She knew that when Erebor was taken by the dragon, Thranduil hadn't helped, but these weren't even the same elves! He really was being a bit ridiculous.

"Lastannem i athrannedh i Vruinen. (We heard you crossed into the Valley)" Said Lindir, giving the wizard a smile.

"What did he say?" asked Kili. "He could be saying anything!"

"He said something about crossing into a valley, I think." Replied Amelia, trying to translate what he'd said. She'd managed to pick up bits of Elvish as she'd travelled, although she was a bit rusty. Although, she was quite proud of her translation.

"Ah, your young friend speaks Elvish?" asked Lindir, now turning his attention to Amelia, who started to look very uncomfortable with the gazes that the dwarves were giving her.

"Ah, well….urm…not really…just, bits and pieces I've picked up…from, er…here and there." She stuttered.

"I must speak with Lord Elrond." Interrupted Gandalf, who looked a bit impatient at being interrupted.

"My Lord Elrond is not here." Replied Lindir.

"Not here? Where is he?" Just as Gandalf had said that, Elvish horns, the same ones as they'd heard earlier, Amelia assumed, sounded again. Spinning around, they could see a small group of armed elves sat upon horses galloping over the bridge quite quickly towards the company. Even Amelia had to admit, it was pretty intimidating.

"Ifridî bekâr! (Ready weapons)" shouted Thorin. Amelia, having no idea what Thorin had said, only watched as the dwarves around her pulled out their weapons and shoved her and Bilbo into the middle of the circle they were forming. It made her feel a little better to see Bilbo's face as clueless as hers at what was happening, but it still annoyed her to no end. The elves were obviously not going to hurt them, and she didn't need protecting. She knew that dwarves were very protective of their women, but that didn't mean that she liked it. "Hold ranks!"

Amelia watched as an elf climbed off of his horse and walked towards Gandalf; she could only assume that this was Lord Elrond, as he seemed to be the leader. "Gandalf!" He greeted. The wizard bowed in response.

"See, that's a greeting!" said Amelia, pushing her way out of the circle so she could properly see what was going on.

"Lord Elrond. Mellonnen! Mo evínedh? (My friend! Where have you been?)"

"Farannem 'lamhoth i udul o charad. Dagannem rim na lant Vedui. (We've been hunting a pack of Orcs that came up from the South. We slew a number near the Hidden Pass) Strange for Orcs to come so close to our borders. Something, or someone, has drawn them near."

"Ah, that may have been us." Upon these words, Thorin stepped forwards towards Lord Elrond.

"Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain."

"I do not believe we have met." Stated Thorin, coldly.

"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain."

"Indeed; he made no mention of you."

"Oooooooo!" joked Amelia, causing heads to turn her way. "What?"

"And who is the woman travelling with you, if I may ask?" asked Lord Elrond.

"I…" Said Amelia, stepping forward. "…am Amelia. Cormamin lindua ele lle. (My heart sings to see thee)"

"I see you speak Elvish. Creoso a'baramin, mellonamin. (Welcome to my dwelling, my friend)

"Seasamin, Heru en amin. (My pleasure, my lord)

"Nartho i noer, toltho i viruvor. Boe i annam vann a nethail vin. (Light the fires, bring forth the wine. We must feed our guests)" Commanded Lord Elrond to a nearby elf, waving his hand over the dwarves.

"What is he saying now? Does he offer us insult?" exclaimed Gloin.

"No, master Gloin." Said Gandalf, exasperatedly. "He's offering you food."

"Ah, well, in that case, lead on."

-8-

The company was now sat around a long table in an Elven court, the table laced in food. Unfortunately, it was not the type of food that the dwarves enjoyed. It was mostly fruit and vegetables available to them, and they clearly enjoyed meat more than the healthy food.

Amelia, who had been led off separately to get clean (the elves thought it was odd that she was travelling with a group of men, and thought her ghastly due to how filthy she was). Although, she refused to put on the dress, they did quickly wash her clothes, brush and 'style' her hair (anything done to her hair would make it look better in her opinion) and wash all the grime off of her.

Now she was sat at the table next to Kili and Ori with a plateful of food.

"How are you eating that?" asked Ori with a look of disgust.

"It's not that bad, really. These are actually really nice apples." She replied, taking a big bite.

"Yeah, right!"

"Try it." Urged Dori, who was listening in to the conversation. "Just a mouthful."

"I don't like green food."

"Where's the meat?" asked Dwalin.

"Have they got any chips?" Amelia rolled her eyes.

"So, Amelia, how do you know Elvish?" asked Fili.

"Oh! Well, I picked it up on my travels, I suppose. It doesn't hurt to know a thing or two."

"I suppose not…"

"I have something to ask though." Added Bofur.

"Shoot." Amelia now noticed that the entire table was listening to the conversation.

"When we were with the trolls, you said you were a dwarf. Now, I don't want to cause offence, lass, but you don't look very dwarfish to me."

"Aye! He's right." Agreed Fili.

"Oh, that! That was just something to, you know…try to stop them from eating me. I didn't really fancy becoming troll dinner."

"But…"

"I think I'll be going to bed now, actually. I'm a bit tired. Good night." Without further ado, Amelia quickly stood up from her seat, and almost ran from the room. Her reluctance to not answer the questions given to her would only lead to more, that much she knew, but she just relaxed knowing that it was something that future Amelia could deal with. She'd got away with it for now.

Meanwhile, the dwarves were sat dumbfounded at the table. They obviously hadn't expected that reaction from their little female companion, and were shocked at her sudden departure.

"What just happened?" asked Ori, who was still facing where Amelia had sat.

"I'm not to sure." Replied Fili. "That question must have hit a nerve."

"Aye. Notice how she didn't answer it?" added Dwalin. "I reckon she's hiding something."

"Well, whatever it is, she doesn't want to tell us." Said Kili, standing up. "Just drop it."

"Where are you going?" asked Fili.

"To find her. She seemed upset." He replied, bluntly. With that, Kili walked past the dwarves at the table, who quickly started new conversations, and out of the room as Lord Elrond entered with Gandalf.

It didn't take long for him to find her. He'd only been walking around for about ten minutes before he reached the gardens where she was. As they'd gone straight from near the bridge to the dining room as Kili's mother would call it, they hadn't had time to look at the rest of Rivendell. Not that many of the other dwarves would want to because of their grudge against the elves, however Kili wouldn't have minded looking around the place. He found it peaceful, not that he would ever tell his uncle that, of course.

Amelia was sitting on a bridge that went over a little stream; the sound of running water one of the only sounds that could be heard. Her legs were dangling off the edge and she had her head leant back, looking up to the sky with her eyes closed. Kili cleared his throat, hoping to get her attention. Startled, Amelia nearly fell off the bridge if it wasn't for Kili quickly grabbing her arm.

"Thanks…" she mumbled, moving to stand up. She hadn't been expecting anyone to follow her. Knowing the dwarves, she just assumed that they were going to continue eating until they were forced to go to sleep. She'd mainly left to be left to her own thoughts. The silence when they were asking her questions was deafening to her, but out here, it was peaceful; so much so that she could see herself staying here except for the fact that she'd probably get very bored of having nothing to do and being stuck in the same place.

"No problem." Replied Kili, starting to walk across the bridge with Amelia. "Why'd you run off earlier?"

"I didn't run off. I just…left."

"Well it looked like you couldn't leave fast enough."

"I was just…tired. I needed to think."

"Damn it, Amelia! Just be honest with me." Snapped Kili. "Please." Amelia looked down. Could she tell him? This was Kili she was talking about here. One of the only people she'd ever felt that she could trust. But she didn't want to lose him. What if he was repulsed? Never spoke to her again? Well, she would never find out if she didn't say anything.

"Fine. You want to know why I left when my heritage was brought up, yes?" Kili nodded, not saying anything. He could tell that if he said the wrong thing, she would just clam up again and he would find out anything. But at the same time, he didn't want to put too much pressure on her. "I…wasn't lying when I said I was a dwarf."

"But…" Amelia held up a hand to stop him.

"I know I don't look like one! There's a reason for that too…" She took a deep breath. "I'm not…I'm not completely of dwarfish heritage."

"What do you mean?"

"I…I'm only half dwarf." Amelia looked up at Kili's face. Near the beginning of the conversation, they'd found a small round meadow that was bordered with lines of flowers and trees, and currently they were sat side by side near the edge. Looking up, she saw that his mouth was gaping a little, and he looked a little shocked, but nothing bad. She hoped.

"Why would you keep that from us?" he asked. He understood, or at least he thought he did, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"Because!" she exclaimed. "I had no idea how you were going to react. All I've done for most of my life is travel and steal to make a living. And suddenly I'm thrust into this adventure with a group of dwarves and a hobbit who are becoming some of the closest people I've ever met, and I didn't want to do, or say, anything to lose you. I didn't know how you'd react, and I was scared. Not many people are half man…and…" she drifted off, aware of the tears that had built up in her eyes. If she carried on speaking, they would fall, and she didn't want that to happen. Crying was weak, especially in front of others. That is what she had brought herself up to know.

Kili pulled the nearly crying woman into his arms. How could she think she'd lose them? Sure, some of the company would be shocked, to say the least, but they all liked her. She was becoming family to them all as well. "Listen to me, Amelia. You will _never_ lose me. Or any of the others. It doesn't bother me what heritage you have. It's who you are that matters, how you respond to the situations that you're put in, and the person you are inside. And you know what I think?" he asked, hearing her sniffle. "I think, that you are a strong, brave, smart, _beautiful _woman, and I wouldn't change anything about you."

Amelia sat there for a few minutes digesting everything Kili had just said. Did he mean what he said, or was he just saying it to cheer her up. For once, she just went with it, giving him a small smile and wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you." She whispered. "But, can we just…not tell the others just yet? Not tonight at least. Please."

"Anything the lady wants." Smirked Kili, lightening the mood.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" laughed Amelia, laying her head down on his shoulder.

"I could easily take offence to that."

"But you won't."

"Damn, you know me well!" joked Kili.

-8-

The two of them sat there for about half an hour or so more in silence. There wasn't much that needed to be said, and they both enjoyed the quiet.

"Come on. We should probably get back to the others." Said Kili, holding out his hand for Amelia to take.

"Yeah… they won't say anything, will they? About, you know…?"

"Probably not. You know them. Once another conversation has started, they forget about everything else." Amelia laughed and followed him back into one of the buildings. It was pretty obvious where the company was due to the loud laughter that was echoing through the corridors. They walked in to find Bofur throwing a sausage over to Bombur, who caught it. Unfortunately, that ended up putting too much strain on the bench he was sitting on, causing it to creak and collapse underneath him, sending Bombur to the floor. Amelia chuckled. How could she think that these dwarves could judge her?

"Ah, Lady Amelia!" exclaimed Bofur. "We were wondering where you got to."

"Gone for a late night walk with my brother?" teased Fili, smirking at the blush that grazed her cheeks, causing her to scowl.

"So what?" she countered, walking past him and grabbing a sausage on her way to another bench.

"Just make sure to keep it down on a night, huh?"

"Fili!" scolded Kili, outraged his brother would say such a thing. She'd already had an emotional day, he didn't want his brother making it any worse.

"No, it's fine." Reassured Amelia, calming Kili down. She was very embarrassed, to say the least, but she wouldn't show Fili that. "I'd be more worried about you keeping it down, though Fili. People tend to say a lot of things they don't want to when they talk in their sleep."

"I…I talk in my sleep?"

Amelia grinned. She was lying-the entire company knew this-but no one bothered to correct her. They wanted to find out what he was going to say.

"Oh, yeah. You should hear the type of things you say. What was one of the things…urm…something about how handsome Bilbo looks in the morning when he's helping with breakfast? Something along those lines." She smirked, listening to the dwarves snigger. Fili was stuttered, unable to form any words. He obviously believed what she was saying.

"Oh, stop stuttering, you idiot. I'm kidding. That's what you get for making fun of me."

"You little…" Fili didn't finish the sentence, instead opting to chase Amelia round the courtyard that they were staying in. "Come here!"

"Never!" The dwarves laughed as Fili tackled the young girl to the floor, sitting on her back. "Get off me, you fat lump."

"I'm not fat! I'll have you know I'm a very handsome, young dwarf. The best looking in the company, actually."

"Pfft…I'll believe that when I see it."

"Oh, of course, you much prefer my brother, don't you?" Amelia didn't respond. Instead, using Fili's distraction to shove him onto the floor and run over to Kili.

"Oh, of course! How can I not prefer this ravishing dwarf." She joked. Of course, in her mind, she meant what she said, not she would never admit that to the others. What she didn't know was that most of the others knew there was an element of truth in there as well. "Anyway, where are the others? You know, Thorin, Balin, Bilbo and Gandalf?"

"Oh, they went off with that Lord Elrond to study the map. They said to get a good night sleep." Replied Dwalin, roughly.

"Oh, ok then. I guess I'd better turn in for the night then." She replied, gathering her pack and lying on the floor a little ways away from the others.

"Night, Amelia!" chorused the company, some of them copying her movements and heading to sleep also. Amelia went to sleep with a smile on her face that night. It had been a long day, but that night was something she was going to remember for a long time to come.

-8-

A/N: so here is another chapter! I wasn't quite sure what to put for this chapter, as most of Rivendell is the explanation of the swords, the council, and the map, which Amelia and Kili is not really part of, so I didn't include it… But there are more original scenes here, and a little bit of Amelia-Fili bonding time! I'm not sure on the ending…but next chapter…Goblins!

Please remember to review! Keeps me going!


End file.
